Poor cosmetic surgery clinics could be named

Cosmetic surgery clinics in England which are not up to standard could be named under new government proposals.

The Department of Health is launching an eight-week consultation on Monday to expand the rating programme which is run by the Care Quality Commission.

The government want the ratings to cover up to 1,000 facilities including those offering pregnancy termination services and substance misuse advice.

The health secretary said it would help end the "lottery" of poor practice.

"Anyone who chooses to have a cosmetic procedure should have high quality and safe care - and that's why we have a tough regulator in place to help people make an informed decision," Jeremy Hunt said.

"Our proposals to extend the CQC's powers to rate more providers are an important step forward in improving standards and will help to end the lottery of poor practice in parts of the cosmetic industry."

PIP scandal

The proposals also involve rating independent community health providers, ambulance services and dialysis units, with 100 cosmetic surgery clinics among the 1,000 providers who could be rated.

The CQC has rated more than 10,000 providers since 2014 but it has focused on providers with the most patients, including NHS Trusts, Foundation Trusts, GP practices, adult social care providers and independent hospitals..

It does currently inspect cosmetic surgery clinics, - but does not rate them as being "outstanding", "good", "requires improvement" or "inadequate" and publish the results online, as it does with hospitals and GPs.

Officials believe extending the scheme is a necessary step towards improving safety and informed choice after high profile scares such as the PIP breast implant scandal in 2012.